Leonard (My Life as a Cat)

“She is so much more than a collection of facts.”

This statement comes from the beginning of the novel before the flashback, foreshadowing how Leonard’s attitude towards humanity will develop throughout the story. The syntax suggests that Leonard initially viewed Olive—and, by extension, all humans—as mere data, whereas now he understands humanity as something intangible and expansive.

“Humans might take these things for granted (staying in the street, half shielded by an umbrella in a summer rainstorm) but I promised myself, centuries ago, that I would not.”

Here, the motif of rain shows Leonard’s deep yearning for human experiences, particularly small, everyday moments that people often overlook. The juxtaposition between human indifference and Leonard’s romanticized perception of life on Earth highlights his initial idealism and eventual approach to his own experience with Olive.

“I’VE COME TO SHAVE YOU.”

This line from Leonard’s first meeting with Olive illustrates the novel’s use of comedic contrast. Leonard, still adjusting to human language and culture, misinterprets her language in an absurd, exaggerated way that ends up being the opposite of what Olive meant, creating humor through the quick reversal of expectations.

“Here is something else: my chest crunched as I looked at her.”

This moment signals Leonard’s first real connection to Olive, illustrating how quickly he begins to experience human life from a deeply emotional perspective, deepening his understanding of What It Means to Be Human. The physicality and violence of the word “crunch” highlights the surprising and often painful nature of deep emotions.

“She was quick on her human feet and spoke the way a rubber ball bounces—with energy.”

The simile comparing Olive’s speech to a bouncing rubber ball captures her enthusiasm and liveliness through an unexpected comparison to a quotidian human object that connotes youth, movement and play. This simile illustrates Leonard’s unusual perspective as an outsider, drawing connections between disparate sensory experiences.

“But I can’t help thinking that…that Frank just didn’t want me around.”

This line reveals Olive’s deep-seated insecurity and fear of being unlovable or unworthy, reflecting her experiences with Identity and the Struggle to Fit In. The ellipses indicate hesitation and vulnerability, showing how painful it is for her to voice this fear. Olive’s struggle with feeling unwanted parallels Leonard’s own feelings of displacement, further strengthening their emotional connection.

“Stanley watched—without helping, I might add—as I waddled and wiggled, contorting my way into the darkness of the bag.”

This line emphasizes Leonard’s outsider status by dramatizing the pressure and awkwardness of being observed by an Earth being who seems to understand the social rules but does not share them. Leonard’s comic frustration with Stanley adds levity, showing how Leonard has already picked up human affects like humorous indignation.

“In this body, on this planet, I was just as vulnerable as anyone else.”

This line marks the moment when Leonard realizes he is mortal, heightening the stakes of his time on Earth and adding a new dimension to What It Means to Be Human. The short clauses emphasize his isolation— his is trapped in “this body,” alone on “this planet”— yet he also frames his new mortality as a point of commonality with all the other beings on Earth. This line mirrors how Leonard’s new mortality will actually help him become part of the interconnected community of life on Earth.

“Piecing it together after the fact, I understand that my eyes closed in Olive’s arms, that my body went limp, and for a few minutes, I wasn’t anything. I did not exist.”

In this quote, Leonard has his first brush with death and the actual experience of non-existence. Leonard reveals his developing understanding of personhood and his sense that his identity comes from his conscious soul and, without that conscious soul, he does not exist even if his cat body remains. Though he only passes out, Leonard describes it as if it were death, showing the depth of his new fear and the emotional baggage of living with a constant fear of death. The fragmented structure of this quote mirrors the way Leonard’s memory is incomplete and relies on the testimony of others to explain what happened to his body.

“Just like that, I was purring.”

In this moment, Leonard purrs for the first time after receiving a personalized collar from Q. Despite Leonard’s initial resistance to his cat body, this involuntary reaction signals his growing comfort with life on Earth and the way personal connections evoke deep joy, reflecting The Power of Unconditional Friendship. The simplicity of the sentence reflects the quiet, instinctual nature of the feeling.

“Now, I don’t want to feed you some junk like ‘everyone’s on their own path,’ but in a way it’s true. There are people who take the roads and people who take the marshland. You, my friend, don’t seem like a road taker. Anytime you want to talk about animals, I’m all ears.”

This line of dialogue comes from Q as he affirms Olive’s love of animals and encourages her to stay true to her own individuality. Q’s folksy language and use of idiomatic language gives his advice an air of wisdom passed down orally. The dichotomy between the road and the marshland emphasizes Olive’s wildness and willingness to do hard things, which helps her see the good in her own identity.

“Did she…did she bring her cat to the beach?”

This line comes from an uncomfortable moment for Olive where her peers judge her and openly make fun of her, reinforcing her problems with Identity and the Struggle to Fit In. The ellipses highlight the speaker’s surprise and the rhetorical question implies that one should know that bringing a cat to the beach violates a social convention in a humorous and embarrassing way. The italicized “cat” creates a mocking tone, showing how other kids do not respect Olive’s connection to animals.

“Hello olive, I’d typed. It is me leonard I am an alien do not be scared.”

This moment marks a turning point in Leonard’s relationship with Olive, where he reveals his identity for the first time and communicates with Olive on a more complex level. The grammatical errors in his typing highlight the communication challenges he faces and the unintentional humor of his earnest attempts to say something meaningful despite being a cat. Leonard reveals his own self-doubt through this message as he worries that Olive’s first response to him will be fear.

“She wasn’t scared of me; she was scared of herself.”

In this moment, Leonard gains deeper understand of Olive and her emotional conflict. He confirms what he already knows about Olive—that she is open-minded, supportive, and loves him unconditionally—and discovers that she struggles with an internalized sense of shame. Olive doubts her own experience and worries that she must be extra weird, echoing the comments Frank made about her identity.

“‘You’re not thinking,’ Norma said, cutting her off. ‘Because you’re eleven, and you don’t understand.’”

This line emphasizes the distance between Olive and Norma, heightened by their generational divide and their lack of closeness. Olive does not feel comfortable enough with Norma to share the truth about Leonard and Norma does not understand Olive’s depth and capacity for planning despite her young age.

“But right then, all I could focus on was the pain sliding across Olive’s face: how it was swallowing everything about her.”

This line depicts Olive’s emotional response to the news that she will move to California the next day, leaving Norma and Q and messing up her plan to take Leonard to Yellowstone. Leonard observes the all-consuming nature of Olive’s pain and the way shame threatens to erase her personality. He conceptualizes the pain in a tactile, almost animalistic way as something capable of sliding and consuming, emphasizing Leonard’s growing ability to create metaphors and empathize with Olive.

“Indeed, it occurred to me as I watched them—as they trailed inch by inch across the beach—that they were Earth. That they were beauty and terror, wonder and danger.”

This line comes from the moment when Leonard, Olive, Q, and Norma help the sea-turtle hatchlings make their first journey from their nests into the sea. Leonard deepens his understanding of Earth, conceptualizing life on Earth through its duality and the tension between beauty/wonder and terror/danger. Leonard now understands that this tension is what ties all living beings on Earth together.

“I’ve never seen your dad happier, out there on the cove. Calm waters. The sun setting over the pier. It was beautiful—picture sort of stuff. But he kept his eyes on you.”

This line comes from Norma’s recollection of her best day on Earth, watching her son feel such love for his daughter. Norma’s language emphasizes that naturalness of this love and the way it fits into the landscape of the cove and setting sun. She highlights the unspoken gesture that represents deep familial love and What It Means to Be Human—the glance and expression that shows how love can be represented without language.

“Sometimes I thought that if I had just one good friend—one really good friend—it would make all the difference. And then I met you. And it did.”

This moment crystallizes the novel’s emotional core: The Power of Unconditional Friendship. The repetition of “one good friend” emphasizes how deeply Leonard and Olive’s bond has impacted both of them. The simple yet profound resolution (“And it did”) conveys the transformative nature of their relationship.

“Which brings us here. That’s it now. I’ve told you everything.”

This is the moment where Leonard’s recollection catches up to the present moment in the narrative. He speaks directly to the reader, building an air of intimacy between the speaker and reader, as though the story is a secret or a confession.

“I believe this is a thing that humans do: Trying to speak words into existence. Trying to change what is very clearly in front of them.”

This quote comes from a moment where Norma cradles Olive, telling her she is okay despite her obvious injury. Leonard shows how much he has grown to understand the nuance of human life and What It Means to Be Human, especially how humans forge concepts like love and belonging. He also notices the intrepid and faithful quality that some humans have to fight for something they believe in despite the obstacles they face.

“I’m home.”

This line concludes Leonard’s fraught exchange with his species and marks the moment when Leonard decides to stay on Earth with Olive rather than return to his original planet. Leonard’s understanding of “home” has changed and he now recognizes that home is something he can create with people he loves, bringing his journey with Identity and the Struggle to Fit In to a resolution. The simplicity of Leonard’s statement shows his certainty and belief in his found family.

“I have been thinking lately about the idea of soul mates—identifying your soul in another. How we may not be made of the same materials, of fur and air, but we can recognize each other across a crowded room.”

In this quote, Leonard finds a name for his relationship with Olive, recognizing the ultimate depth and intimacy they share and how it means they are soul mates. Leonard develops his understanding of the soul, seeing his identity as something that transcends communication and the material body, that relies on an instinctual mutual understanding that cannot be fully explained.